Truly Powerful
by Rejected Angel
Summary: Slight AU. At the Chuunin exams a suspicious character has taken an interest in Naruto that has many people unnerved. Who is she? And what does she see in Naruto that even Orochimaru does not? No pairings, non-Mary Sue OC warning.


Truly Powerful

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, but I do own my original characters.

Summary: Slight A/U. At the Chuunin exams a suspicious character has taken an interest in Naruto that has many people unnerved. Who is she? And what does she see in Naruto that even Orochimaru does not? No pairings, non-Mary Sue OC warning.

A/N: This fic came to me because I was sick and tired of everyone always overlooking Naruto when they first meet him. (I swear I wanted to strangle Gaara when he said 'Not interested'!) So, I decided to write a fic where somebody acknowledges Naruto _alone_, without having to change his personality at all, (not that there is anything wrong with that, I just wanted someone to acknowledge the Naruto we see in the show.) and not for the sole reason that he has the Kyuubi sealed within him. So here it is! Once again, there are a few OCs in this story, though all of them are in relatively minor roles (except for Kyo, but she's really a supporting role…sort of, but the fact remains, Naruto is still the main character.) The only romance in this fic is the cannon crushes.

Also, I have yet to see the episodes of the chuunin finals (and I want to see the episodes, not read the manga. I'm not much of a manga person.) As I have a cap on my Internet and will only be able to download them at the end of the month. However, seeing as there is no conceivable way that I will be getting that far with this story by the end of the month, it really doesn't make a difference…lets just hope that by the time I get to that part I will have all of the finals episodes. If not I may have to download the manga or something, how troublesome! :P This takes place on the day when the Sand-nins first arrive.

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

Chapter one:

Sunlight crept into a smallish bedroom, finding its way into the eyes of the sleeping occupant, much to the boy's annoyance. Large, blue eyes blinked open, accompanied by a jaw-wrenching yawn. Hopping out of bed, the whisker-faced blonde stumbled to the kitchen for breakfast.

Uzumaki Naruto was what one could call a morning person, however, his appearance that morning gave off a very different idea. His eyes were half closed, his hair was ruffled and there were slight bags under his eyes. Silently cursing himself for staying up so late the previous night, knowing full well that he would have to get up earlier in order to get to the meeting that his sensei would be inevitably late for, he reached half-blindly for the carton of milk at his side. Bringing it up to his ear, he shook it lightly.

Nothing.

Sighing, he finished his milk-less cereal and went to get dressed. Putting on his orange jumpsuit and forehead-protector gave him the boost he needed and it was an energetic Naruto that locked the door to his home, and continued grinning as he waltzed down the street.

"Good morning, Sakura-chan!" His grin widened for the pink-haired ninja. However, it was instantly replaced by a glare as he caught sight of Uchiha Sasuke, his loathed (or so he liked to believe) rival. Sakura visibly tensed,

'They've been this way since Wave Country. This is going to be awkward!' Her inner self was pleading for their chronically late sensei to arrive. All her hopes were dashed though, when said sensei appeared one hour late.

"Good morning, everyone!" Sakura and Naruto glared furiously at Kakashi.

"YOU'RE LATE!" His visible eye smiled at them.

"I got lost," Expecting the usual 'liar!' he was surprised to find that Naruto had forgotten about his lateness. Instead, the boy's eyes wide and sparkling with excitement.

"What's our mission for today, Kakashi-sensei? Is it gonna be challenging? We haven't gotten a good mission since Wave Country!" His gaze was gaining more fire as he continued to speak, "Can we get a mission where I have a more active role?" Kakashi could almost picture the flames erupting around the determined genin.

"Well…"

The fantasies Naruto had been having of playing hero for Sasuke were soon dashed by a series of particularly trivial D-rank missions, most if which he messed up on. So, when Sasuke told Sakura to go train, he felt his spirits rise.

'Training with Sakura-chan!' However, a reluctance on Sakura's part and an interruption by a square 'rock' with two eyeholes once again ripped his hopes to itty, bitty pieces.

"Did you really think I would fall for this?!" Was Naruto's angry cry to the rock-like box.

"You are very good, that is why you are my rival, boss!" Came the muffled reply, which was followed by three consecutive explosions and the revealing of three, coughing, eight-year-old children, "I think we used too much gun powder!" Spluttered Konohamaru. What followed was a long-winded and rather overdramatic introduction of the 'Konohamaru Corps'.

"Un," Was Naruto's intelligent response.

"'Un.'? Is that your all you have to say leader?! Since when have you been so cold?" Naruto scowled at the grandchild of the Hokage.

"I don't have time to play with you guys today," Moegi and Konohamaru looked harassed, while Udon looked as droopy as ever.

"But you promised that we would play ninja!" Naruto groaned inwardly, he _had _promised. Resigning himself to having to play with his young followers, his train of thought was interrupted by Sakura's deadpan question,

"Why does a ninja play _ninja_?" Blushing feverishly under the heated glare of his teammate, and rubbed his head sheepishly.

"Who is this girl that is staring at you so intently?" Konohamaru looked from Sakura to Naruto in puzzlement, and soon came to a brilliant, albeit incorrect, conclusion. He gave his leader a sly grin, "You're better than I thought boss!" Naruto was too busy being embarrassed to get the child's drift.

"Huh?" Konohamaru's grin spread, revealing a missing tooth.

"She's your…right?" Naruto blushed even harder.

"Heh, you kids are pretty sharp!" He gave the three his trademark grin, which was wiped off immediately as Sakura backhanded him hard into the wall behind them. Stunned, Konohamaru decided to do something rather foolish.

"What the hell have you done to leader, ugly?!" He instantly regretted it, as fury erupted in Sakura's eyes, and he was soon sporting a large bump on his head. Huffing, the green-eyed girl turned on her heel and proceeded to storm off.

Moegi helped her friend up while Naruto rubbed his head in pain.

"Geez, is that ugly, wide-fore-headed teammate of yours really a girl?" He realized too late that he hadn't bothered to keep his voice down, and a livid Sakura was soon pursuing the four of them.

The chase came to an abrupt halt, though, when Konohamaru bumped into something, or rather, somebody.

"That hurt, brat," The helmet-headed boy looked up to see two genin. One was a pretty girl with a fan and hair divided into four ponytails; another was stocky, face-painted boy wearing a hood. Both of them looked to be in their early teens. The hooded boy lifted Konohamaru up by the scruff of his neck.

"Brats like you annoy me, I should really hurt you back," Naruto, clearly distressed by his companion's predicament, threw all caution to the wind.

"Let him go you bastard!" The stocky genin simply ignored him. Enraged, he charged forward. But, before he even reached his intended target, some unknown forced grabbed his ankle, pulling him to the ground. The mysterious teenager smirked.

"Heh, Konoha genin are weak," The girl next to him was growing impatient.

"Let's go, we're going to get into trouble," Eyes darting to his partner, his smirk widened slightly.

"Don't sweat it, I'll be done with this brat before any trouble comes," He examined Konohamaru, "I'm gonna enjoy breaking you!" Raising his fist, he prepared to strike the helpless boy. Naruto, having recovered from his unexpected fall, began to charge forward again, but stopped dead in his tracks when the hooded stranger dropped Konohamaru, clutching his hand in pain.

"What?!" Looking up, the teenager spotted Sasuke in the tree above them, lightly tossing a rock up and down in his left hand. Moegi's and Sakura's eyes became hearts, while the female companion of the hooded boy blushed slightly, "Great, more brats for me to beat up!"

Meanwhile, Naruto's eyes had become alight with anger.

'Stupid Sasuke! Always stealing the spotlight!' Soon, though, everyone's attention was drawn to a figure attached to one of the shadowed branches of the tree, upside-down.

"That's enough, Kankuro," The boy (now known as Kankuro)'s eyes widened slightly, but he hid it with an uneasy smile.

"G-Gaara…" The redheaded boy narrowed his gaze in an unnerving fashion.

"You are a disgrace to our village, what do you think we came to the Leaf to do?" Kankuro was visibly sweating.

"L-listen…these guys started it…I-" Gaara's eyes narrowed even more.

"Shut up. I'll kill you," Kankura nodded nervously.

"I got it. My mistake," He lifted up his hands, "I'm really, really sorry," turning his head to look at the group of leaf-nins, the boy with dark-rimmed eyes said in a monotone,

"Apologies to you guys," Gaara and Sasuke exchanged glances, and in a whirl of sand Gaara was on the ground. Sasuke followed by hopping off the branch on which he had been perched.

"Lets go," said the sand-nin to his teammates, "We didn't come here to play around," As soon as they began to walk away however, Sakura rushed forward.

"Wait a minute!" The three foreign shinobi stopped, but didn't turn around, "Judging from your forehead-protectors you're from the hidden Sand village. Even if the Wind and Fire countries are allies, it is forbidden for foreign Shinobi to enter other villages without permission." The fan-carrying girl turned around, brandishing a small laminated piece of paper.

"Here is our passport, we're here for the chuunin selection exam," Then with a hint of disdain she added, "Talk about living under a rock!" All the leaf genin present were surprised by the news, and in Naruto's case, a little bit confused.

"Chuunin selection exam? What's that?" Konohamaru looked at him incredulously.

"It's the exam you have to pass in order to go from a genin to a chuunin," Comprehension dawned on the blonde, and a large smile spread across his face.

"Hey! Maybe I can take this exam too!" 'Hmph'ing, the Sand ninja turned to walk away again, only to be stopped again, this time by Sasuke.

"Hey, you, what is your name?" The blond girl turned around, blushing slightly.

"Me?" Sasuke shook his head.

"The one with the gourd," Turning around as well, the redheaded boy fixed his gaze upon Sasuke.

"Gaara of the desert, I am also interested in you," Smirking, he simply said,

"Uchiha Sasuke," Naruto, never one to be ignored, pulled an angry face.

"Oi! Don't you wanna know MY name?!" Gaara's gaze left Sasuke as he once again faced the opposite direction,

"Not interested," Naruto's face fell, no matter what, Sasuke was always acknowledged instead of him! He wanted powerful opponents asking HIS name! However, much to the surprise of everyone present, a new voice sounded from the now seemingly shinobi-less tree.

"_I_ am," Everybody, including Gaara's team, turned in the direction the voice was coming from. A figure leapt gracefully from the very branch that Sasuke had been moments before, somersaulting before landing elegantly on the ground.

It was a boy of about fourteen years of age. He had short, spiky brown hair and green eyes. The girls present were quick to notice that he was very good-looking.

"What is your name?" Naruto blinked slightly, but grinned widely after a few moments later.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you?" The newcomer smirked lightly.

"Shin," He seemed to be summing the younger boy up, and Kankuro snorted disdainfully.

"Why the hell are you interested in this idiot?" Not looking away, Shin's smirk grew slightly.

"My sensei found him intriguing…I do not take that lightly," Looking intently at the blonde-headed genin, he gave him a nod.

"I look forward to seeing you again, Naruto-kun," Naruto gave his a feral grin in return.

"Same here!" With that, Shin jumped up and disappeared, leaving several rather shocked shinobi and shinobi-to-be in his wake.

* * *

"I honestly don't see what's so great about the kid. In fact, he strikes me as a complete weakling," Two teenagers with Hidden Cloud village forehead-protectors were sitting in a forest clearing, waiting for somebody to arrive. This particular teen had shoulder length dark-brown hair, and only the top half of his face was visible.

"Really, Daichi-kun, you should trust Kyo-sama more! If she says he's strong, then he's strong!" This was a slight, skinny girl with short black hair.

"I would be more reassured if she actually told us what is going on for once. The only one she ever talks to is Shin, and even he only gets limited information," Their conversation was cut short by a feminine voice coming from behind them.

"Do not worry yourself, Daichi-kun, I will tell you what you need to know when the time is right," The masked boy's eyes widened considerably, and his body went rigid.

"K-Kyo-sama!" The voice person behind them chuckled and came into the light, and the shorthaired girl smiled brightly.

"Hello, Kyo-sama!" The woman smiled slightly at her subordinate.

"Hello, Ukyo-chan," In the light, the woman's features were clearly visible. She was tall, gangly even, and had rather bony features. She looked to be in her mid thirties, and her black hair was pulled away from her face in a high ponytail. The minimal warmth in her smile did little to detract from the menace that seemed to permeate the woman's presence. The smile fell away, replaced by a thin, calculating line.

"Let me tell you now though, Daichi-kun, if it were not for various…circumstances, he would be one of the top, if not THE top genin here," Neither of the two teenagers thought it wise to ask what those 'circumstances' were, "More will be revealed once the second trial of the chuunin exam is in session, for now you know enough," The three of them looked up when they saw something somersaulting towards them.

"Ah, Shin-kun," The brunette smiled at his superior.

"I trust you were watching me, Kyo-sama?" She nodded, her eyes sparkling with a light none of her companions could place, "Ne? What do you think?"

"I think that your entrance was overly flashy, and that you revealed too much information," Shin's smile dissolved into a look of worry, "However, you did well," Shin visibly relaxed.

Kyo turned her head to face the direction of the Hidden Leaf Village.

'Uzumaki Naruto-kun…kuh? I believe we shall get to know one-another better very soon.'

* * *

A/N: So what do you think? I know that much of this chapter was really just a repeat of the whole introduction to Gaara, but it was necessary in order to set up the story. Anyways, review and tell me what you think!


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